Effects of a Synthetic bFGF Antagonist Peptide on the Proteome of 3T3 Cells Stimulated with bFGF

Abstract

It has been known that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) plays an important role in tumor progression mainly due to its strong mitogenic activity. Antagonists targeting bFGF have been considered a potential strategy for cancer therapy via inhibiting cell proliferation induced by bFGF. We have previously obtained a high-affinity bFGF-binding peptide (named as P7) with strong inhibitory activity against bFGF-induced cell proliferation from the phage display random heptapeptide library. The aim of the present investigation was to synthesize the peptide P7 by solid phase method and explore the mechanisms of the inhibitory effect of P7-targeting bFGF stimulation on Balb/c 3T3 cells via proteomic analysis. Seven differentially expressed protein were identified, among which four were decreased by bFGF stimulation alone and increased by addition of P7, the other three were up-regulated by bFGF treatment alone and down-regulated by addition of P7. Among the identified proteins, epidermal fatty acid-binding protein (E-FABP) and low molecular weight phosphotyrosine protein phosphatase (LMW-PTP) take part in the regulation of cell proliferation. The results suggested P7 inhibited the bioactivities of bFGF possibly via influencing the expression of cellular proteins related to cell proliferation.